


"I Wanted a More Painful Death For You"

by CelticGHardy



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Background Relationships, Canonical Character Death, Gen, episode AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 10:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2187540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticGHardy/pseuds/CelticGHardy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sykes brings Steve to Hong Kong with him and HG to the ancient Regent Sanctum.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I Wanted a More Painful Death For You"

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of notes.
> 
> HC Bingo Prompt - Wild Card – Forced to rely on Enemy/Rival
> 
> I don't know if I succeeded in completing the prompt. The thought was to have him rely on HG, who he thinks is an enemy. I think it turned into him relying on Sykes not to kill him until the end of his plot. If I succeed, I'll post it at the community when I try going for a blackout. I keep deviating and I think I need people to tell me that I'm still working on the prompt correctly.
> 
> I also didn't realize I would make it this long and I don't have season four to write a second chapter to make a somewhat happy ending. Damn my brain, right now I want to write them creating a puppy pile and the adults finding them.
> 
> A lot of the dialogue is recognizable and I do not own it. I own the idea, but since it's close to the original episode, just with different people, some of it stayed the same.
> 
> And this is becoming a habit.

Steve was filled in on the HG Wells situation in sporadic intervals. If there was reference to something, he usually had to ask what they meant and they ended up giving him a short answer, tense from the memories of the person. Finding out the female writer didn't really write the stories, that she just provided the background and ideas, was sort of stunning, but he decided to learn about some of the Warehouse history and found even more surprising things. She had herself voluntarily bronzed after the death of her daughter. They were sure that Myka was in love with her, and that she loved her back, but she continued on her quest to destroy the human race. Discovering a lost Warehouse, almost killing Mrs. Frederic and forcing Claudia to become the next Caretaker of the current Warehouse. Sending an artifact to the woman Pete had been dating, which caused her to leave. Starting the next Ice Age at Yellowstone, only with Myka's insistence that she kill her first stopped her. The woman was now kept somewhere secret, a small black ball somehow projecting her consciousness. 

Well, that hadn't been entirely true, as they had separated her original self from her body, and now Sykes had put her back together.

Helping the woman back to a state where she could wreck the same havoc or something even worse was not high on his list, but Sykes needed her for his plan. _After what happened to MacPherson, does he really think this is a game plan he should go with? Why does he need her so much that he would risk this?_ The coin bringing her original personality back, he was ready for what the man had next. He already had a back up, in case he ended up like the man with the Folios or Stukowski. The video telling the team he was going to Hong Kong, but he didn't know why. Tyler, the hacker that Sykes hired after the Golem case that Artie and Claudia went on, came in and informed them that the plane was ready for take off. Sykes stopped him before he went back out, thanked him for his service, in getting the files and decrypting them. Marcus then took a cue from him and stabbed him with a syringe, killing him with the same poison that killed Stukowski. _I thought that's what he was going to do to me._

If he killed Tyler, then Steve must have still be safe. If possible at this point in time. Helping Marcus position the body on a chair, facing whoever came up to check, he slipped the fake lighter in a pocket for his team to find when they arrived. Steve followed Marcus down with Sykes and HG following behind. The plane was waiting with a pilot patiently waiting in the cockpit. “Steve, would you please get on the plane?” his 'employer' asked nicely. Marcus wasn't coming, heading over to the SUV with something new weighing it down in the back. He wanted to know where the other man was headed, but was gently prodded up the stairs with HG Wells doing the same. _Has he figured me out?_

o-o

Pete broke speeding laws trying to get to the airfield. The Tesla snipers were in the back and Myka handed him one before they hurried over to the entrance. They were on edge, scanning the floor and the upper offices for signs of life. “Move,” Myka stated, taking the left while Pete took right. Claudia followed her while he went up to the offices. “Damn it, they're gone.”

“Too late,” Claudia chimed in.

The two walked over to the stairs. “Pete, what is it?” Myka yelled, seeing his face and backing away from the room, “What's wrong?” 

“There's a body,” he reported, still a little on edge.

“Who is it?” Myka asked.

“I don't know,” he said.

Claudia came up, seeing the hacker she had met on the case with Artie and Dr. Caulder, dead like Sally Stukowski, the woman that stole the doorknob. “It's Tyler. Shit,” she muttered, getting closer. “Artie said he dropped off the planet after the clay women. No hacking trace, no shopping or a job.” The idiot wasn't entirely bad, just a little darker gray for her current tastes. If they had met before she hacked into the Warehouse, there might have been something close to friendly between the two.

“He had a job. Hacking the Warehouse,” he said. Myka got a quick version while Claudia carefully moved around, making sure there wasn't a trigger in the leftover body before getting to a computer she saw in the back of the room. She tested it before seeing it had been completely wiped out, its style to what Tyler had preferred. “Anything?”

“No, fat man, little boy,” she said, “Deleted the whole system.” She was worried about Steve. They had no idea where he and Sykes were going now. Not to mention HG. Then there was indestructible Marcus. Too many angles and they were wondering about the plan that they still couldn't get a grasp on. 

“Okay, the Regents are sending people to pick him up,” Myka said.

Pete was watching the swinging up his jacket and thought he saw something shining on the inside. Using a glove, he grabbed a silver lighter out of his pocket. “Tyler was a smoker?”

Claudia said, “No.” She walked over and watched over his shoulder as he investigated the thing. Myka spotted it at the same time, but she was quicker. Pinching the end, she pulled out a micro SD card. “Whoa, I don't think Tyler would have kept a journal on what he was doing for Sykes.”

“Steve would,” Myka said. “This was plan B.” Claudia looked over at the body for a few seconds. _That could have been Steve?_ “Let's get back to the Warehouse, look at this now.” They ended up hurrying back, bypassing the regents workers on the way back before pulling in at the door. Rushing through the tube, Claudia plopped herself in front of the computer and slid the card in the reader before plugging it in.

Steve's face came up in a video. He was hiding around a few boxes, which she figured meant he had taken this at the airfield. Maybe where it was just Tyler working and Marcus and Sykes were off on side missions. “Hey, guys. The bad news is, if you're watching this then I'm probably screwed,” he told them, faltering at his last words. It wasn't entirely true, but this was prepared in case of death instead of him leaving it behind. “So, I'll keep it short. Still nothing on Sykes's end game. He plays it pretty close to the chest, but I can tell you that he's made travel arrangements to Hong Kong. I don't know what, it's definitely not a pleasure trip. There's one other thing. Sykes's number two, Marcus Diamond, the guy who doesn't die, there's something strange about him. He gets this look when Sykes brings out this wooden box. It's probably an artifact, Artie. You should check it out. Agent Steve Jinks, signing off. Good luck, you guys. Claud, keep the faith.”

Claudia sighed deeply, trying to keep herself calm. “He's still alive,” she repeated, “He's alive, he's alive.”

“He's alive,” Pete assured, “And we're making sure he stays that way.”

Jane wasn't sure about interrupting, but the young agent was alive instead of dead, as the Regents thought would happen once Sykes was finished with him. They may have a better reaction from the agents now that they knew the plan. “Agent Jinks may have given us the final piece to the puzzle,” she said, walking into the office.

“Why? What's in Hong Kong?”

“Something we thought was gone and buried forever. Walter Sykes may have uncovered the ancient Regent Sanctum,” she informed.

Pete had to say it, even if the situation wasn't ideal. “Nothing ever stays buried,” he muttered. The group rolled their eyes at his little quip. Myka and Pete were on the way out and sped to the airport, where there was emergency tickets bought by Claudia after she heard about Hong Kong. Their plane left just two hours after discovering Tyler's body.

Artie started pulling all the information he had on paper, Jane read through the books while he dug for more. Myka called when they were at a safe altitude. “If the Regent Sanctum was constructed during the era of Warehouse Seven, it predates HG by centuries,” she thought out, “What does Sykes want with her?”

_“No idea,”_ Jane said, _“All knowledge of the Sanctum was purged from Warehouse records when it was finally shut down for good. That was over a hundred years ago.”_

_“And,”_ Artie ventured, _“If it was just a meeting place, why would he even care about it?”_

Claudia interrupted them with her search on Tyler's activity. _“I got it,”_ she said, _“Three tickets to Hong Kong purchased from Tyler's IP address.”_

_“Three?”_ he questioned. _“Sykes, Marcus, HG and Steve. Somebody did not make that trip.”_

“They're going to get there before us,” Myka said.

“And he has an advantage,” Pete brought up, “He knows where it is and we don't.”

Jane brought up a pin. _“I found this in the Escher Vault. It was worn by the Regents of Warehouse Seven.”_

Artie took it out of her hand. _“Claudia, see if you can get a history on this thing.”_ He tossed it over.

Myka kinda recognized it and thought she had it. “Wait, that's the Chinese symbol for.... Aperture.”

_“Aperture could be a facility that produces cameras,”_ he suggested.

_“Or a location that acts as an aperture,”_ Jane said, _“Somewhere, a light hits a certain way.”_

Pete quipped, “How very Indiana Jones.”

Myka had a light bulb burst over her head as she grabbed a map of the city out of her bag. “The roads, the roads in,” she said.

_“Roads, I remember,”_ the man whispered, going over to his maps.

“The roads kind of....”

_“Hang on a second.”_ Jane watched him get down to the one he wanted.

“Do you see that? They, they connect and it almost forms....”

_“I see it.”_

_“You two know you haven't actually finished a sentence yet, right?”_ Jane commented, feeling left out but seeing how well they worked together. Much more than agents she's witnessed in the past.

“The same symbol that means aperture can also mean eye,” she explained.

_“As in the Eye of Horus!”_ Artie finished, pointing at a section of the map. _“Look, this is Hong Kong, circa sixteen hundred. These roads, these roads today are all based on these roads. And take a look at this.”_

“The roads form an Eye of Horus,” she muttered to Pete.

_“The iris of the eye, it's a city,”_ Jane said.

_“Tai Po,”_ Artie repeated for their benefit.

“Good as place as any to check out. We'll check in when we get there,” Pete said.

Claudia came up behind the adults. _“I don't care what you have to do, get Steve back,”_ she demanded.

“No arguments there.” The screen cut out as they turned it off.

o-o

It was night when the three hit Hong Kong. Steve still followed the orders that Sykes was giving in the sickly sweet voice. He kept quiet, the three of them did as he followed the directions, driving among the traffic. The man decided to try provoking the woman. “You're not too talkative, Miss Wells,” he said, “Penny for your thoughts.”

“You killed that young man in cold blood,” she stated.

_Tyler wasn't the only one they did that too._ “Really?” he asked, “What temperature was your blood when you killed?” She laughed, as if it was a funny idea. He didn't think it was, but he was supposed to be a traitor to the Warehouse and more than willing to get blood on his hands, so he needed to play along and keep silent. “Because you got a bigger body count than I do.”

“And I'm seriously considering adding one more to that list,” she threatened.

“Go ahead,” he urged. Steve watched in the mirror as she tried before the crop was activated again and she was stopped before she could achieve anything. “Go ahead. Go ahead.” She was trying to battle the influence of the crop. He was allowing her tantalizing close. Steve was amazed that the woman was able to fight against it exceedingly hard, even if it was doing nothing. “Kill me.” He turned back to the crop, analyzing it, watching the energy move around while it was active. “Cecil B. DeMille's riding crop. Look at that. Lets my mind control your body. Pretty damn cool, don't you think?” He gave it one final push to fling her away.

“What do you want from me?” she demanded.

“Some advice.”

“I'd strongly recommend a good psychologist,” she snarked.

Steve bent his head to smile at that comeback, before straightening his face and staring back at the road. Sykes laughed a little as well. “Advice on what?”

“Opening a certain lock.” He brought up an old journal that the man must have gotten from another regent that he heard was murdered a while back. She tried going for it before he moved it out of her range. “According to this, you've got an old friend who taught you how to do it, right? Somebody named Caturanga.” She paused, Steve checking back to make sure nothing had happened to her when he didn't hear a response.

“I'll die before I help you,” she said.

“Oh, you'll help me,” he grumbled, “Whether you live or die is entirely up to you.” Steve thought he had an ally in HG, if he could explain what he was doing. Now, he had to make sure Sykes didn't kill him prematurely. 

There was a small build up of traffic before they arrived at a strip mall that was dormant. Confused, he got out and helped Sykes into his chair. The three walked up to a side door that was conveniently open and disarmed. Next was a basement entrance that he had to pick and help Sykes down. He saw the necklace but didn't focus on it, knowing she was leaving breadcrumbs for the team. The man pointed out the walls with the symbols, and she figured out the switch that opened it. They walked down a long hallway, ending up at an open room that had stairs going down.

There was a single chair, turned away from an ornate and old chest set, several pieces already at the side. The white board game pieces moved, but the black ones didn't as he tried to wiggle one. The chair had a restraint built in at neck level, and he wondered about it until he caught a gleaming object above the chair. An ax head, pointing away but he saw gears that must move it into position over the chair, where someone's head would be if they were sitting down. Well, that explained the skeletons that had built up at the bottom of the staircase.

Hearing the click of a gun, he turned to see HG being forced to point one at him. “I'm guessing you always knew,” he voiced to the other man, raising his hands.

“It wasn't that hard to figure out,” Sykes told him, “Newest agent 'fired' from the Warehouse and happens to be easy to track down and convince. You gave us too little credit.” HG connected dots quickly, about his undercover status. Steve wondered if he could get the gun away from her to stop one form of attack, but it was discharged at his feet. Sykes knew he had that planned. “Sit in the chair, Agent Jinks. The lock needs a living person to activate it.” He forced the woman to shoot again, going over his head. “Do it now, Agent, or I'll make her shoot you and wait for your colleagues to come down. I think Agent Bering plays chess.”

She panicked at the mention of Myka, and he was terrified as well. Threatening the others, he moved over to the chair and sat down. One deep breath and Steve purposely leaned back, feeling the sides close around his neck before the chair swiveled to face the board, which had fixed itself from his changes. Secured, and unable to fight back, Sykes moved to one side of the board before HG forcibly walked to his other side. The gun ended up by his temple and he had to endeavor to keep his anxiety down. “I am sorry about this, Agent Jinks,” she whispered.

“Steve,” he muttered, feeling the collar for leverage, finding none and watching the mechanism over his head to make sure he doesn't trigger it too soon, “You're going to have to explain to me what's going on, because I don't understand too much about chess and I don't know what's with the board.”

“It's a lock,” she repeated for herself. “Invented by my teacher, Caturanga. He was rather the Claudia of Warehouse Twelve.” He flashed a wan smile at the mention of the young woman's name.

Sykes interrupted, “The pieces are set, so the player's in check. You need to win the game to open the lock. Lose the game, the person's skull opens instead.” 

“When the Regents shut down the Sanctum a century ago, Caturanga designed the lock,” she added.

_I usually use locks to keep people or animals out of my stuff. If the Regents had that in mind...._ “It's a back door into the Warehouse,” Steve realized. Her eyes grew wide. “You want to get into the Warehouse, but you don't want to use the front door for some reason.”

He laughed. “Look at you, putting the pieces together,” Sykes commended. “The secret to opening it is not in the journals, but he writes a lot about Miss Wells here. It's his favorite student.” She was a tad annoyed at passively being called an it. “I think she knows about it.”

Steve glanced up at her. “Caturanga taught me a thousands things, but I have never seen that chess lock before,” she denied, “I don't know how to open it.”

“You're not lying,” he validated, his lack of hope dropping even further. _Fuck. Brilliant idea, Sykes, bring her back and she can't do a damn thing._

He scowled at the man's detection. “Then you should figure out how to beat the lock,” he pointed to HG.

The woman took her time to analyze the board, trying to plot out a game plan to put the opposition into checkmate. “Let's try the King's Gambit. King's Knight to F7,” she motioned, nodding when he selected the right piece and moved it to where she directed. The other side moved, taking the piece he had moved and the ax dropped down a position.

He clenched one of his hands to keep from shouting out in fear. “You don't have any idea, do you?” he hedged.

“Not a clue,” she admitted.

His eyes closed as his stomach dropped, still trying to keep his fear down. _Oh, god. Okay, okay. Sykes needed Wells to get information on Caturanga. To figure out what the man would do. To think like him._ Thinking about the late night calls on behaviorism and profiling and Ryan freaking Hardy, he decided to try that tactic. “Talk about him,” he led, “Caturanga.”

“Oh, come on,” Sykes berated Steve, “Don't stall for backup. It's not going to work. I will force her to make you continue.”

He twisted as much as he could toward him. “Do you want to wait for another victim to just wander down here because you make her go too fast to think out a good strategy?” he argued, “Or would you rather have her think about it thoroughly and clearly so time isn't wasted for your plan?”

“Oh, I wouldn't have to wait that long, but...” he trailed off. “If you think you can help her get into her teacher's mind, try it. Don't waste my time, though.”

Steve sighed and looked up at HG. “Okay, we need to figure out how he programmed this. Go back through your memories. How did you meet?”

She nodded, “I was down in the office of Twelve. His first question was what did I smell? I told him apples. He said correct and that it was because the Warehouse liked me.”

He smiled, “Smelt it once, too. After Pete and Myka bronzed me.”

“They bronzed you?!” she frowned.

“They were affected with an artifact that replicated drunkenness. Their drunk selves found it funny and then found out they didn't have the clearance to unbronze me. Once they managed it-”

Sykes interrupted them by pushing the gun at his head. “Let's just continue on with her story, if you're going to keep up with this ridiculous idea,” he ordered.

She was allowed to pull back a little. “He corrected my assumption on the Warehouse being just a building. I thought he was in charge of Twelve. He said he wasn't, and that he was to teach and solve puzzles. And also design them.”

“And he designed this,” he said. Wasn't entirely helpful, but he was trying to build up a profile. “Where there any stories, discussions you had concerning certain puzzles like this? Limited try locks or specific chess locks that needed a code or certain play?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Steve was running out of ideas, and he looked up to try and think before starting to panic at the ax head that was probably going to split his skull open. He faced forward again and thought he saw Pete duck behind the entrance. _They're here? Please don't let it be a hallucination. Buddha wouldn't be that mean to me, right?_ He heard them talking and covered up their voices. “Has chess changed in the last hundred years? Maybe new strategies?” he suggested, slightly loud. “Maybe we could try something he wouldn't have known.”

“Most chess strategies are just variations on each other,” she said, “New moves would be easy to predict and block.”

“Wonderful,” he said. Next he heard a gasp and saw Myka duck back behind the wall. HG also looked a bit hopeful as she heard them as well.

They also attracted Sykes's attention, who seemed slight ecstatic that they were there. Steve didn't think that was what his reaction should be. _Why would he want Pete and Myka here? Unless it was because.... Stupid me, Regent Lattimer and Pete. He wants to get at Jane._ “Preview's over, Bering and Lattimer,” he yelled, “Come on down.”

“Stay up there!” Steve countered.

Sykes twisted the crop and forced HG to shoot his right arm. He cried out in pain, using his left hand to hold the wound and try stopping the bleeding. “The next one goes through the artery in his leg. And I'll keep going,” he threatened, the gun swinging down to show it.

Pete and Myka then came out, guns drawn and pointed at him. He changed HG around to shoot above Myka's head, causing the other agents to duck. “Myka, are you all right?” she worried, “I didn't do that.”

“I'm fine,” she said.

“Myka, that's only because I controlled where she shot,” Sykes mentioned, “Next time, her aim's going to be a lot better. Okay? Let's go, guys, guns on the floor.” He motioned to a corner behind him. They didn't obey, getting closer down to the ground but holding their weapons tightly. “Or the next shot's going to be between Miss Bering's beautiful eyes.” 

Pete went first, placing it by the skeletons. Myka placed hers by the wall. “You son of a....” Pete muttered, seeing the gun swing back to Steve's head.

“Pete, now is not the time to piss him off,” he stopped, staring up at them.

Myka focused on the item still over his head. “I don't understand, why is there a torture device in the Regent Sanctum?” she questioned.

“It's not a torture device,” HG informed.

“Easy for you to say,” Steve badly quipped, uneasy about the situation. The whole point was to keep the team safe and it didn't work. Pete was watching him with worry painted on his face and Myka had it reflected in her eyes, although he thinks some of that is for HG. This part was not supposed to happen.

She kept going, catching them up. “It's a lock, designed by Caturanga. My teacher, and the Claudia of Warehouse Twelve. The pieces are set so the Player's in check. We have to win the game, and it will unlock a back door into the Warehouse.”

The two of them were startled at the revelation of why he needed to be at the Sanctum. “So, he needed you because you're the only living person that knew him,” she noted, watching her. HG nodded.

Pete was staring at Steve, who was still clenching the wound. “So, how do we beat it?” he asked.

“This was Caturanga's passion,” she said, “We played every day for years.”

“You beat him all the time?”

“Not once.”

He sighed, “Oh, great.”

“Pete, calm down,” Steve said, “We just need to figure out how to defeat the game.”

Myka nodded, “All right. Memories, something that defined him. First time you met him.”

“Did that,” Sykes interrupted, “Almost got sidetracked by his bronzing story.”

Myka looked a bit sheepish and Pete almost quirked a smile. “You should see if Pete has any pictures of when Myka was blonde,” Steve muttered to HG. The gun nudged his head to get them back on track. “The first meeting was nothing more than his position. Designing and solving puzzles.”

“Okay, all right,” Myka said, “Is there a specific chess memory? Maybe he used the pieces before.”

“We always used the same set in his office. It was a much more standard version of this one.”

“Can you change direction in the middle of play?” Pete offered. The two turned to him. “Hey, if you can change plays in the middle of football and confuse the other team.”

HG nodded at the tactic. “We can try changing to the The Dragon's Variant. Queen's bishop to H4.” Steve pried off his hand off his arm and managed to pick out the right piece and slide it to where Myka indicated to him. The ax dropped down another position, the team flinching as it got closer to pointing straight down at Steve's head.

“Third strike, I'm out,” he croaked, staring up at the item.

“Not yet, Jinksy,” Pete whispered.

Myka remembered what Pete said. “Change.”

“No, we just tried...” HG argued.

“Not the play. The rules. How did Caturanga treat the rules?” she led, “Especially if he didn't like one.”

She searched her memories for one that concerned a rule he didn't.... “The Tesla. Back in Warehouse Twelve, the Regents wanted us to carry a weapon. A gun. Caturanga had found my designs for the Tesla, after I met the man. He made a functional prototype, something I hadn't been able to do, and shot the man that I was supposed to practice shooting at targets with. Unconscious and mad as hell when he woke up,” she smiled, for the first time during this journey. “'When the rules do not agree with one, it is sometimes necessary to change them.' D3 to E8.”

Steve gave her a strange look. “I don't know much about chess, but I'm pretty sure pawns don't move like that,” he commented, sliding the small piece over to the area that Myka pointed. He knocked over the piece that was in its place. The opposite king, if he figured it out correctly.

“Checkmate,” HG declared.

The ax retreated back to its original position and the collar released him from the chair. He laughed harshly before dropping his head on the board. “Thank you, annoying little brother,” he mouthed, pushing himself away from the board and standing next to the other agents. HG followed after a second, covering the three of them.

Sykes ordered, “Do it.”

“You guys okay?” Steve asked, squished between them.

“If you weren't injured, I would hit you for that,” Myka mumbled.

He shrugged, “It's just my right arm.”

They were startled when the room started shaking, the board moving and scattering around the pieces. They all had trouble keeping their footing. Electricity sparked and they watched the wall dissipate and show the Warehouse. Pete knocked the gun out of HG's hand when Sykes was distracted. He realized it and turned his attention to Pete. “Guys, run!” he warned, being forced to take out his Tesla and point it at them. He only took out HG and Myka, which he didn't understand until he was forced to pick up the gun and grab Steve by his wound, drawing a choked off whine from him. “Bastard.”

“I think he really wants me dead,” Steve grunted, wincing at the fingers digging in.

“No kidding,” Pete said, the gun moving to under his chin before they were forced behind him.

Artie and Jane were waiting by the other opening. Pete pushed Steve to the ground, getting their attention with his cut off cry. He flipped a switch that closed off the portal, stopping HG and Myka before the gun was pointed at the three of them. “I hope you don't mind,” Sykes announced, “I let myself in. I even brought something you left behind.” 

“Hey, Artie,” Steve said, standing next to them. Jane was concerned about her son, who was trying to fight the crop and failing. Artie was worried about what Sykes had planned.

She figured out the other part. “Initiating the barrier automatically triggered the emergency exit portal,” she said.

“To the Ancient Sanctum,” Sykes finished.

“When the Regents abandoned the portal, they locked it up, but it wasn't enough just to trigger it on one side,” Artie continued.

“You had to unlock the Hong Kong side as well.”

“Which is why you needed HG.”

“You'd be proud of her. She didn't even kill anyone doing it,” Sykes said, glancing over at Steve, “Came close.”

“Peter, are you hurt?” she asked.

“No,” he said, “A little tired of this guy, though.”

“You'll never get what you want,” she informed.

“Difference of opinion, Jane. See, I think I'm going to get exactly what I want,” Sykes said.

Pete saw Artie trying to grab something off the shelves. “Artie, no!” he warned. Steve grabbed onto his arm and pointed the gun down while he tried swinging a mace at him. Sykes made Pete throw the young agent aside before knocking Artie to the ground. Jane checked over Artie while Pete grabbed Steve again to separate the group.

“That'll be your only warning,” he told them, going from Jane and Artie on the ground to Pete and Steve with the gun pointed down at them. He had Pete dig his fingers in the wound again. “Play nice.”

“You're not,” Steve muttered, gritting his teeth at the pain in his arm.

“Quiet, Agent Jinks,” he demanded.

“Artie, I'm sorry. It's his crop,” Pete apologized, “It's got wicked mojo. Are you okay?”

“I've been better,” he said.

“Why don't you just kill us?” she asked.

“Oh, I'm going to,” he stated, “But we're going to go find the Collodi Bracelet first. And this time, Jane, you're going to watch your son hand it to me.” The two older adults were forced ahead. Sykes behind them with Pete and Steve bringing them up. The gun didn't waver from the older ones.

“There are consequences to using the Collodi Bracelet,” she warned.

“There were consequences to not using it,” he challenged, “It's a part of me. I close my eyes, and I can see it. Without it, there's a hole in my soul.”

“That's what it does to you. It's not real. It's not a real need,” Artie explained.

“It's real to me!” he exclaimed. He twisted the crop, driving the two behind him up front. Steve was pushed to his knees with Pete pointing the gun at his head. “Or did you not know that, Jane?”

“Wearing the bracelet creates an insatiable longing,” she said.

“It hardens your heart, it darkens your soul,” Artie added.

“And if we let you keep the bracelet, you never would have been able to love, or be loved.”

“If you did everything right, then why are we here?” he questioned.

“I didn't get to you soon enough. I shouldn't have waited so long to see your situation. The seeds of darkness had already taken root,” she stated, “You've killed a lot of people, Walter, and I take responsibility.”

“Oh, that's big of you, Jane,” he mocked.

“It's not too late,” she said, walking closer to Sykes, “We could still try to save you.”

“Mom, please,” Pete begged, unable to move and stop her from putting herself in danger.

“Ma'am, it's not going to work,” Steve said.

“I don't think you're going to hurt me,” she tried, “I think you understand what I'm saying. I think you know there's been enough damage done. I think you're ready to stop this.”

“But, Jane, then you'd have solace. I want you to feel the guilt and the pain, like I have.” Pete raised it up to her head instead. Steve looked over at Artie, who shook his head. Not yet.

“You should have opted for the opportunity I just gave you,” she warned.

“I will take that risk, and the bracelet. Pete.” He focused the crop and Pete grabbed the box it was stored in. He held it out to Sykes, who raised his phone. “Marcus, I have it. Go ahead.” He took the box and opened it. Admiring the bracelet, he carefully picked it up and put it on. “Finally.” He looked at Jane. “Right where it belongs.” They watched puppet strings animate themselves in the air, attached to his legs and arms before he was jerked up. Then, he was standing on his own.

All of them saw the flashes of black covering his iris.

“You got what you wanted,” Artie whispered, “Get out.”

“No, this is just step one,” Sykes told them, “Before you die, I want you to know what it feels like when something you love is ripped away from you.” Pete cried out when the gun switched from her to himself, ready to kill himself.

“No, please,” she pleaded, “I'm responsible. Kill me.”

Sykes almost had it, until Myka shot a Tesla at the crop destroying the connection. “Myka!” Artie exclaimed, “Thank God.” Sykes started running and Steve pushed himself up to go after him.

“You guys, circle around,” Pete said, passing a Tesla to Jane and following Steve, “Don't let him in the portal.”

The man lost his two trails, facing Jane right before the door again. He knocked the Tesla out of her hand and she asked, “Hey, you're too young to have seen the Frazier Ali fight, right?”

“What?”

She slammed a fist into his jaw. “They never saw his right uppercut coming.” He wasn't out, and she ran to the portal, going through the strange energy and coming out unscathed. Sykes tried following and was tackled by Pete. He tried keeping him out, but Sykes threw him aside. He stepped in and Pete closed the portal around him, disintegrating him.

The Farnsworth starting ringing and he answered it, “Mom, are you okay?”

_“Yes. You?”_

“Yeah. Walter Sykes has left the building,” he informed, “The portal's kaput. You're going to need to fly back. All right, so get home safe, okay? And, Mom, I love you.”

_“I love you, too, honey.”_

He closed in time for Artie to come racing with Myka and HG. “Pete! What happened? Where are they?” he questioned.

“What took you guys so long?”

“Just lazy, I guess,” Myka said, “Sykes.”

“Dead.”

“Pete closed the portal around him,” Steve announced, walking up from the aisle he had been hiding in, “Mrs. Lattimer went through first.”

“And she has a fifteen hour plane ride ahead of her. Shit, Steve,” he muttered, seeing blood dripping down his hand and onto the Warehouse floor.

He glanced down himself, only noticing things now. “It's fine,” he waved off. 

None of them believed that, but Pete went and hugged HG first, whispering, “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” she said, patting his back and not sure what to do.

He let go of her and then hugged Steve. “Never do that to us again,” he threatened, squeezing him.

“Pete, air,” he gasped, the Farnsworth ringing forcing him to let go.

“Claud, hey,” he said, Steve looking over his shoulder.

_“Steve?”_ she asked, catching him.

“Hey, Claudia, you guys okay?”

_“Yeah, we're all okay. Marcus is dead. Why did Sykes need you in Hong Kong?”_

He shook his head. _Never. Never explaining this to Claudia._ Pete agreed with him. “Let's just focus on the fact that it's over.”

Artie didn't think so, seeing the flashing alarm lights all over. “Why is that light still....” 

“What is it?”

“They're all...” He moved over to a computer and pulled up outside feeds, seeing the barrier still over the Warehouse.

“Artie? Artie, what's wrong?” Myka inquired.

“Wait. Mrs. Frederic. How long should the barrier normally stay active?” he asked.

_“Once the danger to the Warehouse passes, it dissipates instantly,”_ she said.

“Well, then, why is it still up? The Warehouse isn't in danger anymore,” Pete claimed, “Is it?”

“Sykes talked about destroying everything that Jane and the Regents worked for,” Steve mentioned, wavering a little bit. It was either blood loss or shock that was starting to get to him. 

Pete wrapped an arm around him to keep him straight. “Fine, my ass,” he muttered, “You're a really bad liar, Jinksy.”

He huffed at his tone. “It was going to be big, I never saw exactly....”

Artie walked away and the four went after him. “He said he was gonna kill us all, but he never tried to, at least not very well,” he remembered, finding the aisle that held the bracelet, “A man who can walk does not need...” He stopped by the wheelchair.

“He planned on leaving it behind,” HG said.

Artie started checking it. “The seat,” Steve directed. He lifted it up and turned it over to show a bomb with something in place of Semtex.

“Uh oh.”

“I know that writing. That's from the House of Commons in London,” she informed.

“Oh no.”

“How bad?” Pete asked.

“The House of Commons was partially destroyed during the Blitzkrieg of World War II and there was a piece of masonry. It was said to absorb the concussive force of the entire German Luftwaffe,” he stressed, “This is an artifact nuclear device and it's counting down.”

“Boom,” Steve mumbled, wobbling around.

Artie ran off with it, the rest forced to catch up. Myka grabbed glasses and gloves and passed them out before going into the area, Pete keeping Steve up so he could get his on. “The Ovoid Quarantine can offer some protection to the rest of the Warehouse, but I, I doubt it,” he informed.

“I don't understand,” Myka said, “I mean, who builds a force field that locks you in?”

“It switched,” Steve figured, stepping away from his human crutch when he wanted to get closer to the bomb, “First it protected the Warehouse, now it's protecting the rest of the world when the Artifacts are destroyed by the bomb.”

“And we're collateral damage,” Pete noted.

Artie had a few tools out, trying to find a weak spot. Pete had brought a neutralizer canister and they had tried dunking it, finding it not to work. He then went after a blowtorch. “Let me at that thing.” The flame did nothing to the outer casing.

Steve saw HG working on something. “What are you doing?” he muttered, kneeling down next to her.

“I'm going to activate a small barrier around them, and you,” she said, “It won't contain the bomb, but it will protect you. Hopefully.”

“And what about you?”

“Someone has to be outside to do it.”

“You're sacrificing yourself,” he realized.

“Yes.”

A part of him wanted to argue, but his instincts were screaming that there was nothing he could do. This was her choice. “Thank you,” he told her, filling his voice with both of the ones he needed to say.

She kept working on the cables. “You're welcome,” she said, “Stand by them, now.”

He forced himself up and moved behind Myka. 

“Come on, Myka. We've gotten out of worse than this,” Pete complained.

“No, we have, we have the solution and we can find it,” Artie agreed. “All we have to do is keep a cool head. We'll find it in fifty-six seconds.”

The three of them silently admitted defeat, everyone taking off their glasses and looking at each other. “You did say that we'd go out together,” Myka said.

“I always figured we would.”

“Not me, I was planning on outliving both of you lunatics,” Artie claimed. The two laughed a little and Steve quirked a smile, but he saw her turning around to them.

“And here we go,” she said, tapping them together and covering the small group.

Myka looked over at the other woman, moving to try reaching her and being blocked. “Helena? What are you doing?”

“Saving us,” Steve mumbled, “It'll only work like this.”

“Helena, what is this?”

“I'm sorry.” She separate the wires once it was in place. “It was the only way I could think to save you.”

“What have you done?” she demanded. Steve heard her pain, they all did.

“There was no other way. An anomaly in the system allowed me to re-route a portion of the outer barrier to that spot on the floor. I just hope it lasts.”

“You've protected us from the blast,” Artie realized.

HG nodded, “You should be safe now.”

“But you're, you're out there,” she refused.

“It had to be initiated from outside the barrier.”

The guys started trying to argue. Steve muttered, “Stop, it's her choice.” Myka was starting at her and they mouthed something between each other.

She inhaled. “I smell apples.”

They heard the bomb go off, Artie and Pete turned to watch the destruction of the place they called home for so long. Myka closed her eyes before she saw Helena incinerated. Steve buried his head on Pete's shoulder, clutching his arm and feeling tears slip out because he remembered the story and heard HG's last words and couldn't watch the place he had tried to protect destroyed around them.

It lasted a few minutes, the fires find oxygen and fuel to keep going even after the initial blast. Myka had eventually opened her eyes to see the destruction after HG wasn't in front of her. The barrier died down after the threat past, their small circle of floor the only thing left unscathed. The other two started moving and Pete nudged him. “Hey.” He lifted his head and got a good look around, seeing nothing left. _I failed._ The heartbreak on his face was mirrored on everyone else's. “That was his plan. To destroy the entire Warehouse,” Pete said, “We lost, Artie. We lost.”

They all turned to the older man, who had taken something out of his pocket and was examining it. “Not yet.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I referenced Mike Weston, at least indirectly.


End file.
